Saturday, October 19, 2013

POTPOURRI--

Nature's palette was aflame, as it usually is, this time of year. This view--gently molested by Photoshop--is a reflection in the pond's surface of my northeast woods as seen from my computer room window.

I took the liberty of applying the editing software's "palette knife" to the image then used the "accented edges" filter to create the random shapes of bright around the various blobs of color after a slight boost in the color saturation.Is the image completed as a piece of "art"? Perhaps the better question is, does it even deserve to be called that?

Some would say, "Art is in the eye of the beholder" or some such thing. There, now it is squarely up to you to decide on its declaration.

To me, it is like working on a piece on a wood lathe. I can fiddle with the chisel and be fascinated as the wood dissolves in a fluid change of its geometry until what is left of the original stock simply falls on the shop floor.

I hope I stopped fiddling with the chisel on this piece before it reached that condition.

(Remember you can left-click your mouse while hovering the pointer over the image and you should be treated to a larger view).

* * *

A motorcycle is not the handiest means of locomotion for carrying a loaf of fresh bread home from the grocery, especially when the loaf's cubic volume exceeds the storage volume remaining in the saddlebags. Yup, that cycle's driver (me, of course) recently forgot which means of locomotion was in use on that particular shopping trip.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

COMMENTERRY--

File this one under rotting infrastructure:

I found myself searching for a geocache under this bridge on Grove Road, a township road in Morrow County, Ohio recently and was startled to come face-to-face with its deteriorating condition. Hefty steel I beams on approximate 3 foot centers seemed robust but the sub-surface decking was in significant decay as were the "x" shaped bracings seen in the upper foreground and lower center.

The decking and its overlay of asphalt are what keeps your car's tires from plunging through the surface. The bracings give vertical stability to the steel beams which themselves are the "backbone" of the structure.

I am, by no measure, an engineer and am confident the Morrow County Engineer's office has this bridge under regular review. In their defense, Morrow County is known to be tax poor. Anyone can see that just by paying attention to the condition of their county and township roads.

In an October 2012 article in Roads and Bridges it was pointed out, "...24% of Ohio’s bridges (6,381) are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

That's nearly 1/4 of all our state's bridges.

Infrastructure is often out of sight and consequently out of mind. Taxpayers usually cannot see the inside of our sanitary and storm sewers and our water lines. It's a rare driver who pays attention to the condition of the bridge structures he or she can see.

Our continuing to ignore necessary repair of our infrastructure will be done at significant peril.

* * *

I ordered milk with my Arby's Beef and Cheddar sandwich lunch September 23rd and the milk had a "Best By" date of November 28, 2013.

Can you imagine the nuclear-powered preservatives that milk must have contained?

As I held my nose and quenched my thirst I couldn't suppress my visions of embalming fluid.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

COMMENTERRY--

My Facebook account got whacked, or hacked, or whatever last month. Some geek scumbag in a small, New Jersey town managed to imitate my account then attempted to convince some of my FB friends "I" could make them rich.

It was, of course, a ploy to get people to reveal personal information this schemer could use to cause them financial harm.

After a couple of astute inquiries from potential victims I posted a warning on FB this had happened and commended those who realized this was, indeed, a scheme with a very offensive odor.

I then went to work trying to use tools available on FB to stop such nonsense. That effort led me to a demand by FB's system that I change my email address. That, I refused to do. It was their lax security that allowed this to happen. They could fix the problem.

Naturally I was embroiled in a totally impersonal process with them and their system was offering no other solution. That stalled my account and, as far as I know, that's where it remains today.

* * *

When a person like me arrives at bachelor-hood unintended that event usually happens without ever having the benefit of any home-ec schooling along the way.

I also had enjoyed a lifetime of pleasure avoiding those syndicated columnists spouting blizzards of advice on managing the distaff side of a household.

Shortly after I lost my bride, the folly of not paying closer attention to her wifely toils became apparent.

Imagine how proud I was recently after I developed the marvelous idea of pinning my dark socks together before tossing them in the wash.

Now, I hardly ever arrive in public with one sock noticeably black--and the other some shade of blue.

I'm still working on the problem of making plastic wrap behave.

* * *

Then, there is this display of cabinetry compliments of the Menards store in Ontario, Ohio:

Doesn't the "quality" of that center section just make you tingle all over!